Your Brows are on Fire
by noblenovelty
Summary: Donna had a question the Doctor wasn't ready for and now he must travel the universe without brows. Surely he can find a way to make the best out of the embarrasement, can't he?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I haven't read that many who fics so maybe this is not original at all. My apologies if that's the case. Also, first attempt at a Who fic. I am not sure yet I got their "voices" right.

"So where do babies come from?"

The Doctor looked up from the wild mess of wires and gadgets on the console, puzzled. Donna was sitting on the floor, flipping the pages of one of what he had called his stack of "old magazines" but that she had found so fascinating being Vogue editions some 30 years in her future. There were no real spoilers in fashion, were they? Nothing truly life-altering in there, right? No, not really, he had thought.

"What?" - he finally asked.

She didn't look up from the magazine.

"Babies. How do they happen?"

He put down one of the wires he had been holding, not noticing it was the blue one. You can't put the blue one on an active panel on the console cause blue wires tend to get too happy to meet the red wired metal panels. Basic TARDIS tinkering. Of course, basic TARDIS tinkering should also be performed with all eight senses on and no ginger companion asking random questions out of the blue. Oh, the blue. The blue was happy to meet old friend red wired panel. They sparked and sent a happy bolt of electric joy up his hand, to his very happy elbow and further up to his spine where it merrily spread through out his system.

"Your brows are on fire" - Donna mentioned casually, flipping a page.

"I know," he added quickly, patting his eyebrows like it was the most natural thing to expect this time of the year, "all under control now."

"Good. I wouldn't want it to spread up to your hair. With the amount of chemicals you use there we might have ended up learning what Jerry Lewis meant with his Great Balls of Fire. Too young to die on a spaceship, me."

"Very funny, Donna. It would help if you didn't distract me while I'm redistributing the shifting system. This is complicated stuff I'm doing here, we don't want to have our coordinates badly polarized and show up at the wrong planet downwards… or inside out… or something…" He trailed off while he switched switches and clicked clickers checking any possible damages caused by the bolt to the system.

"I was just asking…" she said with the most innocent shrug, resting the magazine on her lap. "I thought you got a high when enlightening us poor clueless humans on the mysteries of Life and the Universe and Everything Else."

The Doctor smiled, still focused on the task at hand. "Ah, good old Doug, he did get the point, he. 42. Ha! That was brilliant."

Donna's turn to look puzzled now.

"You're not making any sense, you know that, don't you? Anyway, Doctor, my question?"

He was busy pumping some green fluid through plastic tubes right into a valve on the console. The TARDIS was making funny slurping sounds. "What?" He asked absent-mindedly "Look at her, sipping all my drink from my funny straw. You're a good old girl" and patted the console with affection.

Donna chuckled lightly. "That'd be so naughty if it wasn't so cute."

The Doctor looked at her, burnt eyebrows up. "What are you reading there, Donna? No futuristic porn in my stack, is it? Cause that, well, there can be real big spoilers there, on porn… really big spoilers actually. Tremendous, life altering…" he took a step closer to peek at the magazine resting on her lap: Vogue's Mother's day special 2040. "Ah, nevermind me. Forget I said anything."

"Porn spoilers!" She was positively interested now. "Really?"

But he was back to his work.

"Oh please, Doctor. Why won't you answer any of my questions? You're being such a spoilsport today."

"This is a spoilers free area." He simply said.

"Ok, forget the porn, but, there can't be spoilers in making babies, now, can they? I know how that works already!"

He dropped the mallet on his right foot. He needed new rules for his companions, he thought. A new shinny book of rules that they'd have to sign as soon as they stepped through those blue doors. First one should read "Designated companion will not endanger the Time Lord's life by asking uncomfortable questions while he is operating heavy artefacts". Absolutely necessary that book.

"Don't I?" Donna asked somewhat surprised at his lack of assertion on the matter. "Will humans change their reproductive habits in the future?!" She was freaking out a little. "Have we been doing it WRONG all this time?"

The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose. This was ridiculous. He might as well call the tinkering off and hope the TARDIS will behave if left to herself for a while longer. "Of course not, Donna" - he sighed - "human reproduction works just fine as it is. There will be improvements in assisted reproduction but you can't really alter the basics there."

She sighed with relief. Some ideas her mind just wasn't ready to wrap itself around. Boxes bigger on the inside, big red spiders trying to feed her to their children and alien planets with enslaved species she could handle. Sex, on the other hand… no, sex was better left the way she knew it was if she wanted to retain certain levels of sanity.

"So, about the babies…" she started only to be interrupted by a groan from the Doctor and his hand pushing on her shoulder as he used her for leverage while he sat on the floor beside her. "Honestly Donna, you know how babies are made. I am pretty sure your mother must have told you back in the day and I am sure you have had your share of… er… experimenting with the concept on your own".

That earned him a playful slap on the arm. He didn't even flinch, he already knew that'd be coming.

"I know dumbo. I was talking about your babies! I am curious about how your lot…" she realised a tad too late that she wasn't as comfortable as she thought she'd be when approaching the subject. "… you know… curious at alien reproduction habits. Not the 'how to' specifically, mind you, more the general idea… as in… are you like us, I mean, not physically, not that I care about your skinny anatomy, at all, more like does it work like with Earth mammals in general? Or you lay eggs or… I don't know!"

He was enjoying seeing her blush. Quite an unusual sight. He wonder if she would had blushed had she been talking about sex instead of merely reproduction. He suspected she probably wouldn't have.

"We don't lay eggs." He said with a smirk. "That'd be funny. But no, we don't. We are pretty similar to humans in that aspect. There are a few things that work differently, our anatomy not being entirely similar of course, but it's the same idea. Some bit of male genetics joining some bit of female genetics and duplicating inside a safe environment until ready to face external conditions on their own".

Donna looked at him. A blank expression on her face. "You made it sound so absolutely uninteresting that I am surprised your species didn't go extinct eons ago".

A change on his features made her realise what she had just said. His eyes were suddenly so dark and the playful glint she loved to see in them was fading, she had to do something.

"Ok, so now tell me about the process. Time to get into the dirty side of it, it's not fair that you know all about our most private interactions while I can't imagine mighty Time Lords going kinky" she quickly added.

The glint was back. She smiled to him - and to herself.

"Ahhhhlright then" he sighed looking at the ceiling and leaning back, stretching his legs and resting on his elbows, "Time Lord sexuality for dummies…" - And of course, another slap. This time on his stomach. He chuckled and went on. "Our external anatomy is pretty similar. Both male and female bodies. Except for, well, something is very different in our females. Very." He coughed a little.

Donna was looking at him intently, her head went a bit to one side and she made this "Oi?" that reminded the Doctor of a puppy dog.

"Our females don't have breasts. Not like these big breasts you have." And he made a nod towards this very particular part of his companion's anatomy and then a fast gulp and he was back staring at all the interesting things happening in the ceiling. "I don't mean yours in particular," he blurted out in a bit of a high pitch "I mean yours as in human females. I mean, this much bigger than men's."

This was fun. Donna thought. This had been a completely innocent question born out of boredom and all those mother&baby beautiful pictures in the magazine but she liked where it was going. Informative, entertaining and it was making the Doctor really uncomfortable and fun to watch. Yes, Donna knew when she had had a great idea and this was one.

"Your females don't have boobs?" She added partly seeking for confirmation for such an odd concept and partly to martyrize the Doctor.

"Not like yourssssspecies' females." He corrected himself.

"But what about Jenny? She had breasts. They were very obviously there".

The Doctor made a face and Donna felt for him. He was really good at putting things behind and she sometimes forgot. She simply forgot.

"I think the cloning machine was not ready for Time Lord biology. She couldn't regenerate either, could she?…" He looked ahead, flexing his legs so he could wrap his arms around them. "Had Jenny been home she would have caused a sensation. Not one to go unnoticed, I can tell you". He smiled lightly. "I would have liked to see that" He looked back to the woman sitting next to him and decided this was no time for sadness. "Anyway," he continued with his explanation, "our chests are not exactly similar cause males have more muscular tone and females are… well… softer. Bit rounder too." He drifted off for a second. Donna wondered how long had it been since he had last got a glimpse of Time Lady "roundness" and how much he probably missed it. But it was just for a second, then he carried on "No real use for them, you see? We don't nurture our children that way."

"Are little Time Lords born with teeth? Cause that is an idea that would really make me cringe" she shared with a bit of disgust.

"No, no teeth. We feed them like the birds. We regurgitate some of…"

She put her hands up and waved. "Don't go into detail there! I really can do without that part. That's disgusting!"

The Doctor laughed softly. "Well, imagine my surprise when I learned how YOU do it!"

They both looked at each other and laughed at how awkward the whole thing was.

"Funny business reproduction!" She exclaimed. "Ok, go on. Then what happens?"

"Well, male and female do join in sexual intercourse, if that's what your dirty mind is wondering about," he offered, "and sex works basically the same way. Then when conception…"

She interrupted him. "What do you mean 'basically the same way'?"

He stared.

She stared back. Then, "You said 'basically the same way' so that implies there are some significant and so very interesting differences" and she winked. She bloody winked at him.

"I thought you said you were not interested in the actual process but the general idea?" He replied, in a futile attempt to get out of the conversation.

"I've changed my mind." And that was it. No apology, no offer to change the subject. Like it was perfectly standard behaviour to ask anyone about their shagging habits in Donna's world. And maybe it was, he realised. Humans. You study their history, their cultures, their lives, you bring them along to the end of the Universe and still they come up with the most fascinating and simple questions and disarm you in all your 900 years of solid been-there-done-that security.

The Doctor was, for once, lost at words. What did he mean by "basically the same way" anyway? It was just an expression. Wasn't it? Sex was… well… basically the same. Then again, maybe not. Cause, really, when it came to human interactions, he had seen it all. Almost. Humans were not keen to have sexual intercourse when he was around. He never gave it much thought but he was suddenly contemplating the possibility that he might have missed something relevant in his education there. But he had read about it, hadn't he? There were manuals in the library. And there were novels. Lots of them. He was certain there had been films too but he had never found the time in any of his visits to Earth to just sit and watch a movie. It was beginning to dawn on him that all he knew about human sexual relations were which body parts went into which other body parts and how the friction must be pleasurable enough to cause climax and spilling and conception. In comparison to Time Lord sex, those were the basics but there was so much more than that. The tingling and the smells and the feeling of absolute connection of the body and mind and the shared time and space… did humans have any of that, he wondered.

"Quit blushing. Start talking".

The Doctor became aware of Donna's eyes fixed on his. A devious smile on her face.

"Honestly Spaceman, the way you're blushing, alien sex must really be something!" She added. "Go on! Don't be shy with me Doctor. I may not be 900 years old but I've lived some interesting times myself. I can take it."


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor cleared his throat and went for it. Not that complicated to explain, was it? She was no child, no need to be embarrassed. No, he could do it. It was educational. Informative. Nothing to be ashamed of. He was well aware that he had not opened his mouth yet. Any minute now he would come out with the right words. It couldn't be so difficult. He had talked about it before! So, sex, he thought. Go on explain.

Donna was growing old sitting beside him. "Oh for heaven's sake Doctor. I'll start for you. There's a Time Lord. I assume he has, what, a cock? And a boobless Time Lady." And she cracked up. "Ok, now you go on."

His face was all scrunched.

Dona took pity on him. "Fine. Time Lords don't have cocks. He has a willie. Better now? He has a willie and she has no… breasts. Oh god, wait, they start to look like children in my head these Time Lordy people. I don't want them to reproduce anymore."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "This is ridiculous" he finally said. "I'll tell you about our sex life. Our sex life is… wonderful. We do have cocks, us Time Lords." And he really wanted to add how magnificently well equipped they were too but it just wouldn't come out. "And females don't have your big boobs but they are quite nice to fondle anyway. Soft and warm and…" he had started to make gestures with his hands "… round"

Donna nodded. "Roundness" seemed to be quite the thing when it came to the Doctor's appetites.

"And the mechanics of sex are like humans. I can only assume… " He made a slight pause but went on, there was nothing that could stop him now, oh no! he thought. "the cock goes inside the…" And that was it.

Donna sighed with frustration. Nine hundred years old, she thought, and he can't find a word. "Skip that part, we don't want you to have a heart attack. I wouldn't know how to perform CPR on a two-hearted alien". She patted his hand and offered yet another way out. "So, they are joined together - better that way? - and then what? Alien semen and eggs and conception like us?" If he was going to avoid all the fun parts she might as well get the information as resumed and easy to understand as possible.

He looked at her, his mouth slightly opened. "Yeah, well, sort of. No, not really… Wait, don't pat my hand like I'm five yeas old!"

"Stop acting like it then, Spaceman!"

"This is a sensitive subject for me. I haven't talked about this for… decades." And he frowned slightly shocked at his own remark. "I haven't really even thought about it for years…"

Donna saw him getting lost in thought again and pulled him back. "And you realised you don't remember how it's done, did you?"

He was about to say "Yes" when his brain actually understood her line. "Oi!" He exclaimed, very much in Donna's fashion, a finger pointing at his very amused ginger companion.

She was having way too much fun at his expense, he thought. That was some nerve. He could teach her a lesson or two! He had lived a very long life, he know what he was talking about! Maybe he wasn't completely sure about human intercourse but he was sure there was nothing in it he could not master and improve with his vast knowledge on human anatomy and his own experience in the subject. His vocabulary was a little rusty, that was all. Those were not words he often used with his human companions. There were many parts of their anatomy they never talked about. It was a cultural thing, he knew that much.

Donna was giggling now. He would be offended if he didn't know her well enough to be amused at her giddy self. "Look who behaves like a teenager now" he told her.

"Oh please" she said, "this is too funny, really. A man that can explain the Big Bang and the physics behind time travelling and he gets all worked up when you ask him to describe one simple sex act. I didn't even ask you to fill me in on all your species kink! "

"I like kink!" He decided "I've had my share of kink and I could tell you all about it… If I wanted to… Which is not the case…" he trailed off.

She was smirking. "I once had a threesome. Donna sandwich. My friend was quite round…" She threw that in for extra pleasure "It was fun and exciting but it involved too much talking and too many instructions for my liking. You mean something like that?" She teased.

He half nodded, half shook his head in disbelief. She was driving him crazy this woman. He made a mental note for himself to never pick up a redhead again if the time came to it. Gingers were too hard to handle he decided.

"So, anyway," Donna continued "you said it's not really like our semen and eggs and conception deal? How is it like then?"

As frustrating this conversation was beginning to feel he could sense a real interest in the topic at hand from his companion and he was not one to leave a question unanswered when it came out of honest curiosity. That was the one thing he always loved about humans, their endless thirst for answers.

"There is semen and there are eggs but it works in the other direction".

That rendered Donna speechless. He felt a satisfaction he had not felt for a very long time. "Aha! You didn't see that coming, did you! There you go!" he felt like screaming, but he didn't.

"What?" She said, trying to grasp the concept.

"The male carry the eggs. The females have the semen."

"What?" She asked again. "I'm not sure I am going to like where this is going".

The Doctor gave her hand a pat. "Stay with me on this one. I will blow your mind" - and he smirked.

"Male and female are joined. There's friction. Where there's friction there is pleasure, right? Right!" - he went on hurriedly in case Donna felt like she could snap out of her dread shock and had something to add about pleasure, instantly robbing him of this glorious newly found feeling of having all the right answers - "So, with pleasure comes release. Only our release has the opposite effect. The male absorbs female fluids through our, erm, yes, cocks, sensitive skins they have, our cocks," he felt himself babbling a little - there goes the momentum, he thought "and those fluids, which are basically genetic material combined with highly effective hormones excite the chemicals on the eggs that we carry inside."

Donna was sorry she asked. A pregnant Doctor. That was all she could think of now. All that fun, all that sexiness, all gone. There was a pregnant Doctor in her mind. That will put her off for decades too, she lamented. No more sex, ever. No more cocks either. He had ruined cocks for her. She had been a fan before, but not anymore. Cocks were becoming some kind of snorkelling equipment in her mind. Wrong at so many levels. Had he said they absorbed fluids? That was just wrong. Sucking cocks, she thought. Double meaning in that? That was ruined too, and she had quite enjoyed it before, dammit. Was he still talking? he was. What was he saying? She hoped he was not going on about the labour. Oh god. Oh GOD. No more cocks for her EVER.

"… and then the female delivers the baby pretty much like you'd do, except, of course, there is no navel".

She stared. And stared.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his head. "Where did you stop listening?"

"Sucking cocks". She said.

"I don't recall talking about that… not that we don't do it. Cause we do. Quite an enjoyable thing too… but… oh!" he closed his eyes in understanding. "I see. Doesn't work that way. It's topical. Through the skin. The hormonal cocktail is absorbed through our skin not… ew. That is disgusting."

"You tell me" she replied.

They both had a minute of silence in memory of all those sexy thoughts that had forever died because of that idea even being in their brains after which Donna suddenly asked "You have the eggs and they deliver the babies? What?"

The Doctor sighed as if he were explaining the basics of quantum physics to a group of very ill prepared PE teachers.

"Female sperm - as we could call it - interacts with our egg and when our release comes, the fertilized egg is deposited back in the female's body. She carries it to term, that's twenty months, and then she delivers the baby. All the nutrients are absorbed through the skin at this phase so no need for an umbilical cord, hence, as I said, no navel for us Time Lords."

He looked at the ginger sitting next to him, a mixture of self satisfaction at having been able to go through it all and a bit of apprehension at what she might think of their basic biology.

"That was… " she was looking for a word that could describe what she felt and that could not be qualified as offensive in any way. There weren't many. "… surprising."

He shrugged. "It's a very big universe."

"Makes you wonder about all the reproductive wonders that might be out there…" and then she shot a quick glance at the Doctor, who had already opened his mouth "…but don't tell me about them cause I really don't want to know right now! As far as I am concerned, alien reproduction is one big spoiler from now on. You are not allowed to fill me in on details about it never, ever."

The Doctor decided he quite enjoyed the way the tables had turned and he quietly smiled to himself. After a few moments of sitting in silence, he felt Donna's eyes on him. He looked at her with curiosity.

"I was just thinking," she said softly "that Time Lord sex must be rather nice."

The Doctor felt his resolve quickly disappear under the heavy weight of such sudden predicament. "What?" he practically stuttered. "Why?"

She leaned a bit closer, having realised she had caught him off guard and she had once more the upper hand in this game of theirs.

"Seeing there can only be conception when both male and female have had their sexual release. No fertilizing fluids unless the woman has an orgasm, am I right?"

He hadn't thought of that. Was there the possibility among humans of not achieving full orgasmic release during intercourse? That was not in the novels he had read. Certainly not in the manuals.

"Why would you have sex if not to have an orgasm?" he asked sincerely.

Donna was trying to follow his train of thought and came to the conclusion that for the Doctor, quite probably, there wasn't one thing without the other. Lucky Time Ladies, she thought.

"Us unlucky Earth girls don't need to come to get pregnant. Now, isn't that incredibly unfair." She added. "You'd be amazed at all the women that got pregnant without one tiny little glimpse of joy."

She was shaking her head and he was shaking it too, mimicking her movements, mouth slightly opened in disbelief. "Then why have sex if you're not going to have an orgasm?" he repeated.

She looked at him and marvelled at the idea of a man that would not even consider the option of an unsatisfied sexual partner. She could use one of those. It had taken her quite some time to build up the security to express her needs and feelings in bed. Before that, there had been too many unsatisfying encounters.

"Why have sex if not to have an orgasm?" She repeated to him, allowing herself a bit of time to think. "Well, there is love. And sometimes a sense of… duty. No, it's not duty." She could sense the Doctor trying to come to grips with this new concept. "Sometimes you feel you owe the person the satisfaction. Even if you are not in the mood. Or if he is not too skilled. Is it not that way with your people?"

A big part of her was certain that such a thing must be common to all intelligent civilizations. You sometimes just want to please someone, right? It came naturally. That need to know you are appreciated and that need to prove yourself you are worth it. It must be common to everybody, mustn't it? She was hoping she was right cause now that she thought about it, she wondered if maybe she had got it all wrong all this time.

"Well," The Doctor cut in "I know about love and I know about duty but I would not have sex with someone if I wasn't sure that she would find it as pleasurable as I would." he rubbed the back of his neck again in a gesture Donna knew well. It often meant 'There's this concept I had not considered before and it deserves a bit of thought'. It amused her to think he was pondering on their sexual habits.

"Men don't necessarily always know we don't find it as pleasurable as they do…" and as soon as those words came out of her mouth she wished she hadn't said them. She could feel a long explanation due.

"How's so?" he asked as she had expected.

"Sometimes we just pretend". There. I've said it - she thought. This man won't even consider not giving her partner an orgasm and here I am letting him in on all our deceptive human ways. Donna sighed.

The Doctor was studying the conversation. She could feel him thinking, almost. That brain of his was processing every word she had said and every face she had made and everything he had read, heard or been told before and trying to incorporate all that to this "human" concept he had in his head. She had never really paid much attention to all the implications of sex. Other than what was necessary to interact in normal social situations or private ones, for that matter. She wasn't sure she liked the way it made it look under this new perspective. She felt she had to defend her position.

"It's not like we lie. Well, a little. But we do find it pleasurable, to some degree. Sometimes. Just being together is good enough. Sometimes. The closeness. An orgasm… well, it's great. It really is! But it's ok to just be there for someone. At times." She was babbling. Fantastic.

The Doctor was facing her now. He seemed mesmerized. Donna shifted slightly in her sitting position, a bit uncomfortable with such determined attention.

He couldn't help it. How amazing were these humans, really. You thought you knew them well and they always had a surprise coming! He knew what they would do for love. He had seen what hatred could make them do too. Sex, well, he had considered sex to be a nice part of love, a disgusting part of hatred and basically a big part of biology and primal instincts. And, as far as he could tell, an entertainment to human race. This notions shed a new light on that idea. There was much more to it than he had first considered.

He realised Donna had been quiet for what seemed a rather unusual amount of time. She was looking down at the magazine that laid discarded on her lap. He took it and put it aside.

"Are you alright?" He asked completely baffled. He could see something was going on with her and he had no idea of what had just happened.

Donna looked up and smiled. "I'm alright. Some things you just never give much thought."

He felt he had missed something somewhere in the conversation.

"And what are you thinking about now?" He asked cautiously.

She placed her hand on his leg and pushed herself up from the floor. "I am thinking that it's getting late and you still have a lot of tinkering to do if we want to make it somewhere, at some time."

The Doctor wondered if maybe he had said something wrong but he couldn't figure out what it might have been. The only explanation he could think of was "Humans!" but even he knew that couldn't be an answer for everything around them.

He too stood up. After all, he did have a lot of tinkering to do if he wanted to take them someplace remotely interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor hammered the last valve into place. Something screeched to his left and something went 'boing' to his right. "Ahhh, brilliant!" He exclaimed merrily. "I knew I could fix you good and so I did, didn't I old girl? I am so good!" The TARDIS hummed content, an array of light indicators going on and off at what, to the trained eye, seemed a rather obvious display of joy and appreciation.

Securing the hammer under the console, the Doctor looked around for any other tools or missing pieces he should put away. He saw the magazine Donna had been reading before discarded on the floor. He picked it up and headed towards the library to store it with the rest. Vogue's Mother day special 2040. It's cover displayed a black and white picture of a woman - most certainly a 2040 celebrity - cradling a baby. It was a rather beautiful picture. Cute but not kitsch. "Very Vogue" he thought. Then he hit himself on the head with the magazine for even entertaining such thought.

And then it hit him - a notion, not the magazine: All that talking about reproduction and maybe it was not about sex at all. He stopped in the middle of the deck. All that talking about sex and maybe, just maybe… "Oh, how can I be so stupid!" He yelled to himself and ran towards his companion's room.

Donna was brushing her hair, getting ready for a shower before going to bed when she heard a faint knock. "Are you in there?" came the Doctor's soft voice from the other side of the door. She sat on the bed putting the brush aside. "Come in Spaceman. What have you done now? Did you hammer the TARDIS to death?"

His head popped in, followed by one very long skinny leg and then the rest of his twig-like body. "I've fixed her" He said, a big grin spreading on his face. "We are ready to go anywhere you want now!"

She gave him a big smile. "That's good news but I am dead. I think it's time for my eight hours of daily sleep if that's ok with you. I don't know if it's day or night, - don't even know if there are such things as days and nights where we are - but my body has its own mind".

He put his hand up in some kind of approving gesture. "Of course, no problem at all. Sleep and I will… stay put… or fix something… somewhere. No problem at all. I will entertain myself. I'm quite entertaining."

Donna nodded. "Very" She added. "Know what you could do?" She suddenly asked. "You could go and fix your eyebrows".

He stared, smiling cluelessly. "What?"

She stood up and walked to him. Taking his hand, she guided him to the mirror on her wall. "You set your eyebrows on fire before, remember?"

The Doctor looked at his reflection. Both brows were a fuzzy mess of burnt hair. "Oh no!" He exclaimed with such a deep hurt tone. "I am completely disfigured!"

Donna nudged him with her hip and chuckled as the Doctor stumbled a little, the friendly gesture having taken him by surprise. "Big drama queen you are!" she laughed on.

Happy to hear her laugh, he joined her. "I like it when you do that" he said, while trying to smooth the remains of his facial hair into some reasonably eyebrow-shaped recognisable feature.

"Do what?" asked the ginger as she walked back towards the bed.

"When you laugh like that" he simply said.

She sat cross-legged on the bed, a little disconcerted by such out of the blue compliment. "Well, thank you. I'll try to do it more often, then".

He turned to look at her, a genuine smile plastered all over that silly alien face of his. "It won't be hard to do, mind you, if you keep doing such stupid things as setting yourself on fire" she added, mostly because humour was her comfort zone.

He knew that already. "Will do it more often, then". He offered in return.

She gave a coy smile and a little head shake and then she looked down to her hands. Something very important was happening with her nails that required her undivided attention.

Silence fell between them again. The Doctor touched his eyebrows, and then his chin and then he smoothed some invisible wrinkles on his suit. "Fine, well, then, I'll go. I will let you sleep. All your hours." Another wrinkle, on his trousers this time. Dammit, this suit was becoming quite a rag. "And I'll be out there. If you need anything or… get bored or something".

She looked up again, smiling friendly and nodding. "I don't usually get bored when I am asleep but I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

"You can have rather boring dreams. I could entertain you then" he babbled on.

"What is it with you an entertainment today? I am discovering a whole new side of you. Very show business like." She went, adding bricks up that big wall around her. Bricks and cement and a whole new load of plaster to make it better looking.

The Doctor heard the bricks. They were thick red and had their arms crossed and their backs turned to him. He was positive they were also sticking their tongues out at him on the other side of the wall.

His hand flew up to the back of his head one more time.

"There he goes" she thought "all that *thinking*" Maybe she had read him wrong. She might as well give in. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

He looked surprised and pointed a finger to his chest. "Who me? Why? No, what would I want to talk about anyway? Not me." His hands darted into his pockets and he balanced his whole body on the tip of his toes and his heels. Back and forth and back again. "I'm good."

"Riiight" She sighed.

"Is there anything perhaps you might want to talk about?" asked he trying to sound as casual as anyone and failing miserably.

"Not really" She replied. "I think I'd rather sleep".

But he wasn't moving.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me anything?" She ventured.

He shrugged and shook his head nonchalantly.

"Well, then, what do you want, to get into bed with me?"

That did the trick. He looked positively startled and finally took his hands out of his pockets, opening his arms in a clear peaceful offering gesture to her. "No! Why, oh no! No, no, no. Why would you say that? No way, no".

She threw her hands in the air and talked a little louder than she intended to "Then what? I keep telling you I'm going to bed and you just won't leave and keep offering to entertain me. What am I supposed to think?"

"Oh! I see how that might have come like that but… oh, no I was just worried about you, that's all. Very innocent it all was!"

She was more confused now that she was before. And that was saying a lot.

"Why were you worried?" She asked puzzled.

"Well all this talk we had about reproduction and the sex talk and all that and you looked so… I don't know… and the magazine was just there and… what could I think?"

She was trying to make all the links but she was missing way too many pieces.

"What could you think, you say? Well, how would I know if you don't tell me?"

"Do you want to have a child?" he finally blurted out of sheer panic mostly.

She was almost certain that she wasn't talking. Her mouth was forming words but strangely she couldn't hear a sound. It is a bit difficult to talk when you don't know what to say next. She finally shut her mouth, took a deep breath through her nose and asked as calmly as she could manage "Excuse me?"

The Doctor was sure he had never been more uncomfortable in his life. Where are those Daleks when you need them?

"It is perfectly understandable, Donna. Nothing to be ashamed of… " by the look on her face he was making matters worse. Time to redirect the line of thought "… I mean, a woman you age…" Worse! Worse! His mind started to scream. That is making things much worse! "… I mean, I can help! I could… " his mind flashed the equivalent of a big red light and a siren went off somewhere inside his head and some very primal instinct told him his only chance of survival was to shut up presently.

"You don't want to hop into bed with me you just want to give me a child?!"

That was nor a question, nor a statement. That was basically the equivalent in words of being chased around the room with a very big stick. You can run from it but you know your luck will run out sooner or later. He realised that room was too small for all the running he'd have to do.

"I'm sorry! That is not what I meant! Don't hit me with the stick!" He yelled.

Donna looked around in exasperation. What stick? What was he talking about? How much sniffing of that green fluid had he been doing while she wasn't looking and how may times had he hit his head with that console while he was crutching fixing things under it?

"I ask one very reasonable question about your sex life and your next assumption is I want to have alien babies?!" She wasn't sure if she was angry or offended or amused. All three possibly.

"That is not what I meant, really! I wasn't offering my seed to you I was…"

"YOUR SEED?!" She yelped. "What is this, a racy novel?! 'The SpaceStud and the Earthling in distress'?!"

The Doctor gave up and quite theatrically slumped on her bed. "I give up. Hit me with the stick. It'll be over quicker".

He opened one eye and looked at her from the bed. She was laughing. Really laughing. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was bent over, holding her stomach with both arms.

He couldn't help but to laugh himself.

"Oh shut up!" She finally said when the laughter subdued "Just, shut up."

"And I didn't even have to set myself on fire for this one." He joked as he sat up on her bed.

"Well, you almost did. I thought you might go up in flames at some point." She said wiping a tear off her cheek.

"At some point, I think that would have been a relief, actually."

She chuckled a couple more times and gave a content sigh. "You are bonkers, Spaceman. I hope you know that."

He just shrugged.

"And I think I understand what you were trying to say - or maybe I just don't want to think it is anything different than what I want to believe it was… In any case, I appreciate the concern and no, I don't want to be the mother of your children, thank you very much for offering."

"I wasn't offering that. It would be biologically impossible. Our DNA would never match" He replied.

"Good, cause you're still not mating with me, Sunshine!" The she tilted her head to one side. "Hold on, were you offering me someone else's… DNA?!" She asked, her face doing that thing again where the Doctor could feel a stick coming his way.

"I wasn't offering any DNA!" he hurriedly added "Although that would be possible considering I have a time machine that works again and assisted reproduction clinics are as common as supermarkets in the 23rd century…" The stick was coming closer "I'm divagating again. I was just offering a shoulder to lean on. Or a friendly ear. Or any other…"

She took his hand and cut out his babbling quite effectively before he offered any more body parts.

"I know. Thank you." And he gave his hand a squeeze that he returned almost immediately. Neither let go of the other's hand afterwards though.

She felt compelled to trust him with some of her feelings after he had shown such brave determination at helping in what he had thought to be a moment of need.

"I have considered motherhood, well, the lack of, because of my being in this box with you." She told him with a small smile and with her gaze fixed on the bed covers. "But I think I am alright with that. Now. I am not saying that's something that might become a more pressing issue in time but, for now, I think seeing the Universe is good enough for me."

He was happy she was letting him into some of her most private thoughts. It was never easy for him to read humans, let alone women. And she was a redhead. That was a challenge over a challenge. With a red challenge on top.

"And what I thought about after our sex talk - by the way, Doctor," - she looked up to meet his eyes - "that was not a sex talk. That wasn't anywhere near a sex talk. Anyway, my thoughts on that were that being in this box with you, that part of my life was also on a hiatus. And it is a part of my life that I had learned to enjoy quite a lot." She smiled shyly this time.

He tried to think of something to say that would make her feel good. Something comforting.

"I know a few planets where males look humanoid and they have not seen a female in years. Not all of them are galactic prisons."

She let go of his hand and slapped his arm.

"Ouch!" There we go again, he thought. I have done something and I have no idea what. But she was suppressing a big grin, he could see it, so he thought it was alright after all.

"I am serious!" she said. "I'm opening my heart here and you're making jokes." He tried to push him off the bed.

"I'm sorry! Fine, no jokes. Talk to me. I am listening".

"The Doctor's in?" She said softly.

"What?" He asked. But she ignored him.

" It's not the sex I really miss. Ok, fine, I do miss the sex, I am not kidding anyone. But it's the…" she put her hands up looking somewhat helpless "… the intimacy that I miss the most. That connection with someone. That feeling of not being alone all the time" She trailed off, not sure of wanting to pursue this idea any further.

"Time Lords establish telepathic connections during sex" He suddenly said. "I don't think that is what you are referring to but I do understand the feeling you are trying to convey".

"Telepathy must be quite handy when trying to read your partners needs. No wonder Time Ladies come every time!" She realised she was backing up again behind her wall but that was alright now. At least that is what she told herself.

He looked at her and thought this was as good time as any other to open up a little. If she could do it, so could he.

"I don't understand why you would pretend."

She was glad she had put that wall back up. This could get uncomfortable.

"Well, you are not human." Was all she offered.

"I don't think that has to do with the species. If you and I were to sleep together, I wouldn't want you to pretend. I would want to know that you are there with me."

She cursed herself for mentioning that. Was there really any need to illustrate the Doctor in such matters? No, there was none, she scolded herself.

"Well, if you and I were to sleep together, I probably wouldn't feel the need to pretend. That's not really how it works"

And why had she said that? No idea. But was it wise? Definitely not. She watched him put his hand behind his head and rub his neck yet one more time. "There he goes thinking again" she observed to her dismay, "Why can't I just shut up?"

"I think I don't understand how this pretending works." He informed her.

"Well, neither do I, really. It just… happens."


	4. Chapter 4

A few moments of heavy silence later the Doctor understood she wasn't going to elaborate on the idea any further. He did a quick nod to himself, slightly disappointed at what he considered a lack of interactive skills on his part and gave a friendly pat on her leg.

"I think I will go now. I'll let you sleep." And he pointed towards the door.

She reached for his hand and pulled it towards her, away from the exit he had pointed at.

"I don't want you to think I don't want to explain this to you, Doctor." She said, reading something that looked vaguely as hurt in his eyes. "I wish I could explain but it's just one of those feelings. Either you experience it, or you don't."

He was looking intently into her eyes now and it was making her slightly uncomfortable. She knew how hard he was trying to understand what she was saying and she knew that she wasn't offering any real meaning to the whole thing. But what could he expect from her, really? This man who had travelled Time and Space and had met all these incredible creatures and civilizations. A man who had had all these amazing and enriching experiences… and he depended on her to explain such a simple thing as… what? Deception? No, not really. Dependence? Not exactly. What was it - she discovered herself thinking - that lied behind such an unimportant thing as faking an orgasm?

Such a small ordinary commonplace thing on Earth. So many jokes about it. Centuries of human history relying on the basic idea that women did not necessarily have to enjoy sex… and suddenly, when facing some skinny alien, it all came crumbling down, empty of meaning.

She must have made a rather pained face at the realisation for the Doctor was suddenly holding both her hands.

"What is it?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

"I had never truly thought about this, you know?" She told him openly. "It's just one of those things".

She offered a smile and hoped he'd cut in with something to add, but he sat in silence, hands on her hands, staring patiently. She had no other choice but to continue all by herself.

"Women…" She started, then sighed "we just want to be loved, I guess."

That clearly wasn't enough an explanation for him for he didn't even blink.

"Sex is…" This was rapidly becoming one of the most complicated conversations Donna had ever entangled herself in, she noticed. "Sex is…" She tried to find the words, but it is difficult to elaborate a solid argument when you are not too sure of where your train of thought might lead you. "Sex is something we… offer."

That was the most sexist thing she had heard herself say. And she realised she believed in it to her core. The things she was learning just by being with this Doctor didn't cease to amaze her. Not only was he showing her the Universe but she was becoming quite well educated on the Donna Noble subject. That was not something she had had any interest at becoming before, either.

"I think sex is something we know men want from us and sometimes we offer it to them in hopes of being good enough so they can't get enough and they won't leave." She said that line in one long sentence, not stopping for air. That wasn't what she wanted to say. That wasn't what all these years of feminism and independence and women's rights had worked for. And yet, there it was. Not what she wanted it to be but what she so painfully had suddenly realised it felt like - for her.

The Doctor heard the words. He understood what they meant. And he went beyond that and understood what they meant - to her. He thought of Donna, feisty and ballsy Donna, being so insecure that she would offer herself in such a selfless way in order to provide pleasure to someone else, simply because she was afraid of being denied love. She must be wrong, he thought angrily, she must have gotten it all wrong cause there is no way men on Earth would take someone like her, someone so willing to give herself away and be satisfied with just having sex with her. And, not noticing she was even faking pleasure? No, that couldn't be! Could it?

Donna was extremely uncomfortable now. She didn't know where to look. She felt like running away and hiding. You didn't say things like those! She wasn't even sure she felt alright thinking things like those.

"Ah, so you see, Doctor" she said softly "it's not that we lie, we just… sometimes… can't cope with the reality of it". Oh please, someone shoot me now - she thought and smiled weakly in hopes that his travelling partner and sudden "Professor on all things Donna" would be mislead into thinking she was perfectly alright with things being that way and in no need whatsoever of reassurance of any kind. It would also help if he'd let go of her hands, she noticed, the smile widening for added effect.

"I think you are brilliant" he blurted out.

She wondered if he had listened to anything she had said. At all.

"Alright." She said, trying to disentangle her hands from his but only succeeding in doing so with her right hand. She then used it to grab his left wrist in a not so subtle way to let him now she needed her left hand back too.

His hold on her tightened.

"I think you are brilliant and smart and valiant but I think you are absolutely clueless about what sex really is".

She stopped trying to wriggle her hand out of his grasp.

"What?"

"I think you got it all wrong and I am so sorry."

What was that - she thought - pity? The bloody Martian pities me and my sex life?

"What?" She repeated at loss for better words.

"Donna Noble", he said in that tone that so clearly conveyed an authority based on profound knowledge from a lifetime of experience and that she knew so well, "you have been trading sex for love and not knowing all this time that is a bargain in which you can never win."

He is giving me lessons - She noted. He's actually giving me a lecture. On human sexuality. Honestly! "Oi!" She exclaimed, but she realised she didn't have any argument to fight him with. "Oi!" She said again, slightly frustrated at her own lack of words.

The Doctor wanted to tell her so many things. He wanted to take all those insecurities away and make her see how mistaken she had been. But instead, he felt he had offended her.

"I don't see anything wrong in loveless sex, Doctor," - she finally managed to say - "that's why we have lovemaking too. Sex is, sex. That's all. I don't trade anything!"

He had done this so wrong. He knew it now.

"Well, that's the point then, isn't it?" He replied, wrapping his free hand around her trapped hand for emphasis,"If you can tell the difference between lovemaking and sex, why have non-pleasurable sex? Why would you do that for when it's sole purpose would be the climax?!"

She opened her mouth but there was nothing she could say. He was bloody right. One more point for the Martian boy. It was getting difficult to keep scores.

"But…" she started. "Oh, what's the point!" She exclaimed clearly annoyed. "You're right. That doesn't make any sense."

"You are worth so much more than that Donna" he went on, certain now that he had her full attention and that she was ready to take in anything he would say to her. "You should love and be loved and enjoy all the pleasures life can offer without having to worry about your adequacy.."

She was grunting.

"What?!" he asked in confusion.

She gave a heavy sigh "I know all about it Doctor. Self esteem, self confidence. I know. Working on that already. I am worth it and I deserve things and… I really know all of that." She sounded tired. As if those were things she had said over and over again. She looked up right into his eyes. "I KNOW. I just find it a little bit hard to… feel, sometimes."

Her shoulders dropped as she closed her eyes and sighed again.

And the Doctor held her hand and felt absolutely helpless for the very first time. Not a pleasant feeling, that was. Interesting as a novelty but definitely not one he could enjoy. He didn't want to have to deal with it any longer.

He tilted his head and jumped, cause there really wasn't any other thing he could do.

Donna felt his lips on hers and opened her eyes in shock. She pulled back and slapped him with her free hand.

"OI!"

He didn't even complain this time, and she knew she had hit him hard. Angry and confused as she was, she felt a pang of regret.

She eyed him, her lips pressed together and her chest heavy with this mixture of disbelief at his daring cocking self and the tenderness that his gesture had evoked in her.

"Did I hurt you?" She finally offered.

He was rubbing a cheek that was turning bright red. "I had it coming" He waved.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't have done that. I have a bit of a temper…" He was still rubbing his cheek, looking so contrite, it was driving her nuts. "You caught me off guard, you know? You don't go around kissing people just because you feel like it!" Now she was getting angry again. Why was she apologizing anyway? That bloody cheeky Martian!

"My fault. I know" he said.

He wasn't even trying to put up a fight. That wasn't half right!

"How would you feel if I jumped on you, just because?" Yes, anger it was. "And let go of my hand already! I might need it to hit you again. My other hand went numb with the slapping!"

He let go of her hand as if it stung. He probably wasn't even aware he had been holding it all this while. Donna felt her heart sink with guilt. The bloody flippin' Martian! And she growled.

"Argh… you are driving me bonkers!"

She took a deep breath and crooked her neck. Then took another deep breath.

"What made you do that, anyway?" She finally asked in a more calmly manner.

"I wanted you to feel it" He simply said.

Her whole body screamed 'what' at him. But instead she said "You keep talking and I am trying to make sense of the words you're saying but it's just not working…"

"You said you knew all about self-esteem and confidence but you didn't feel it. I was trying to help you feel that" he explained matter-of-factly.

Donna felt the remainings of her anger vanish as guilt came back triumphantly claming all of her chest. "Wonderful, "she thought "exactly what I needed".

"Well, nice try Spaceman" she said trying to lighten up the mood in hopes of being able to return to the normalcy their relationship had had before, considering the age gap and the planetary gap and all those other many gaps there had been between them. She calculated they might be able to achieve that in fifteen to twenty years.

There was the silence again. It was heavy and she wanted to shoo it away.

"And what made you think a kiss might do it?" She asked out of utter annoyance at how thick the air suddenly felt and how heavy her limbs had become and how tired she was of the whole thing, really.

He rubbed the back of his neck. Again.

Donna growled in frustration and let herself fall back on the bed. "Why did I have to open my mouth in the first place?" She yelled at the room in general. "What did I care how Time Lords came into the world? I didn't even care that much! Really!"

The Doctor found that rather funny. The cheek didn't hurt that much after all. This was far more entertaining than being all by himself fixing things and waiting for Donna to wake up, anyway.

"Actually," he said, his hand still tangled in the hair behind his neck "come think of it," he saw the redhead pop up on her elbows and stare back at him "you did 'jump and kiss me' once. And I didn't slap you."

She blinked.

He put his hand back on his leg.

She blinked again.

"And I saved your bloody life with that" she simply said, sitting up again. "It was an act of absolute heroics, that kiss." She considered the fact that there would quite probably be some more slapping in his near future. "And you tasted awful."

"I was trying to be heroic here too!" He said, a glint in his eye.

"Are you playing games now?" Her chest was having a party. All those emotions going for a ride. She was having them all. Guilt and amusement and tenderness and annoyance and dread and gratitude and regret and… really, all of them. At the same time. She was surprised she was still capable of producing coherent speech. Wondered if maybe the translating circuits of the TARDIS were helping her with that. If maybe it was the ship who was helping her get the message through to the Doctor cause she was positive none of what was going on in her mind made any sense anymore. She was actually quite convinced that none of what was taking place outside her mind made that much sense either.

"I have a deck of cards somewhere…" He looked in the general direction of the door and pointed at some random spot between the mirror and some hanging wires.

Donna gave up on rational thought and abandoned all hopes for normalcy in her newly found alien/human interaction. What is the point in reason, really, when you are travelling with a mad man with burnt eyebrows in a blue box that's driven with random levels and an occasional mallet whack to the main console?

"I think we came to that bridge called Sanity and crossed it." She said.

The Doctor smiled. That was his kind of girl.


	5. Chapter 5

Donna found herself in what she could only describe as a zen state. Having gone through a vast myriad of emotions in the short span of half an hour and having surrendered to the idea that maybe things didn't have to make that much sense anyway, she was ready to face whatever life cared to throw her way and let it slide down her back with a shrug of her shoulders. "Totally zen" she whispered to herself.

The Doctor was still sitting on her bed, in front of her. One leg bent across the bed, the other one resting on the floor. It looked as if his body had not yet made up its mind about whether it wanted to leave or stay. Truth was, he had not yet made up his mind either. This was becoming quite an interesting adventure for him and he hadn't even had to get out of his beloved TARDIS. He was battling monsters alright!

There was a bad brain-gnawing creature eating away Donna's confidence. It was his personal duty to rid her of it. He had a plan. Oh, she would object to it, he was sure but, didn't she always?

She looked at him. He was grinning like a mad man. She wanted to smack him.

"Thee goes my zen" She said. And she pinched the bridge of her nose.

The Doctor kept on grinning. If he could jump from A to C avoiding B and B prime he might succeed in his quest. It was all a matter of timing and left hand and treading really carefully…

"I asked, what else did you want?" She repeated a bit louder.

He snapped out of his scheming.

"Nothing! Nothing else. I'm good." He looked confused. "Why are you asking?"

Dona made this casual hand move and waved around her room, "Well, seeing I was going to bed a couple years ago and you are still here…"

He followed her hand around. "Yes…" He nodded.

"Yes… exactly," she said certain that he wasn't paying any attention to her anymore. "What else is there to want? You came in, offered me to a galore of galactic prisoners, kissed me, got slapped, drove me bonkers basically, almost made me die of embarrassment…"

To that he did pay attention, though.

"Why embarrassment?" he asked all sincerity and friendliness.

Donna's zen state waved goodbye and left the room. "Why embarrassment?" She asked in a rather high pitch. "I addressed a very personal issue back there, Doctor. I am not used to share such intimate details of my…" she wanted to say sex life, she was planning on saying sex life, but she said something else instead "love life with just anyone".

He held her wandering hand again. He might as well do it if he wanted to be able to listen to what she had to say.

"No need to be embarrassed with me. You can tell me anything!"

Donna wasn't sure if maybe they had engaged in some role playing without her knowledge. What was he now, her therapist?

"Like I told you about the Donna sandwich with my friend and all her roundness?" she said, the most innocent smile forming on her lips. There was no reason why she should be the only one uncomfortable with this turn of events.

The Doctor gulped. That was not what he was expecting. Somehow he had hit B, B prime and had made a wrong turn at some point. He felt wandering all by himself in the surroundings of Q. So much for his master plan.

"Yes." He replied without confidence, "Yes, you can tell me about that. No embarrassment in sharing that."

"Good cause I have been dying to tell you about her. She had this birth mark right over her left breast…" and she pointed the exact place over her own skin and relished on the fact that the Doctor had shifted a little on his position when she did "and hard as I tried to stay away from it, I kept being drawn to lick it. It was the most fantastic bit of skin that breast…"

"What was the other one doing" He interrupted quite rudely.

"What? That's not the way breasts work."

"You said it was a threesome. What was the other person doing?"

Maybe this had not been such a great idea after all, she dreaded. "He was there too. Licking… other bits of skin."

"Who was he? Your boyfriend or hers?"

"Wait, what is this, an interview?" She snapped. Where had all her fun go? Why had she lost all control of the conversation when she was enjoying herself quite that much?

"I just want to know" he replied as innocently as he could master.

"He was my boyfriend. It was a fantasy of his. You know what? Forget it, I don't feel like having this conversation now. I really think I should go to sleep."

"Why? Was that one of those occasions where you did some pretending?"

Of all the nerve in the world! - Donna screamed on the inside - he just won't let go, won't he?!

"Fine Doctor, this is embarrassing. You win. Happy?! Now please, go away so I can go to sleep and pretend this never happened."

But he had finally made it to where he wanted to go. He was not going anywhere, oh no, not now.

"If I asked you to do that with a friend of mine would you agree to it?" He asked like it was the most natural thing to ask to a woman who was trying to push you out of her bed.

"What the hell are you going on about now, Sunshine?!" She practically screamed and she stopped nagging him, recoiling on the bed trying to put as much distance between them as possible.

"I just want to know if you did it because you thought that would give you pleasure or if you did it because you loved him and you were afraid he might go away if you said no."

She was kneeling on the bed, completely stunned. You didn't ask people that kind of thing, did you? Normal people didn't ask that sort of thing. She remembered then how she had decided just a few minutes ago that the world had gone mad around her and it was perfectly fine with her. She thought maybe she was not ready for insanity just yet. She felt she might make it there eventually but, please, not tonight.

"I don't think that is a question I'm comfortable answering now". When in doubt, blunt honesty. That was one thing she had learned that worked with the Doctor.

"I'm going to take that as an 'I did it just for him'" He said.

She missed her wall. She had never missed those imaginary bricks this much before.

"Oh Doctor, please. Go away."

But instead of going away, he was getting closer to her. Something had gone very wrong in this conversation and Donna knew it.

"I hope this bloke appreciated what you did for him."

Donna rolled her eyes at him. "Look Spaceman, it's not like it was some torture he put me through, you know? That was quite enjoyable. We might pretend sometimes but there is also pleasure in knowing you are making someone happy!"

Bricks and bricks going up. Finally!

"I just think you should sleep with people because you genuinely feel it will be a pleasurable experience, not just because you think they might like it. You are not supposed to be anyone's birthday present."

Why were they still talking about this? That was something she couldn't really understand.

"Alright, Martian, first of all, I don't go around sleeping with people cause they might like it. I don't sleep around at all! And secondly, when you love someone you do things for them. Things they will like. Like going to see an action film even though you know you will have a headache afterwards. Or having Chinese even thought you know your stomach won't be too happy about it. That is love!"

The Doctor made this face, like he was genuinely appalled by that.

"That is not love! Love is NOT having Chinese cause it upsets her stomach! What you described is resignation and politeness! And I am not from Mars!"

"Why are we fighting over this!" She screamed.

"I don't know!" He yelled back.

"Good, then let's stop screaming! This is getting absurd and it will give me a headache". She slumped on her bed. This was being a very long day.

"It's only that…" he started "I just wish you'd…"

She moved over across the bed so she could see his face from her lying position. He looked right into her eyes. So much he wished her to know and he didn't have the words to explain.

"All that love to give, Donna. And all those things to feel and you are missing out on them."

That sounded so sincere coming from his lips and he had such a sad face that she couldn't help but get a lump on her throat. She was sure she had loved before. She knew what orgasms felt like. She had had some really good ones too. And still, he made her feel like he was talking about something completely different.

"I think" she said softly "that maybe we were both wrong. I think perhaps Time Lord sex is nothing like ours."

His heart sank.

"I told you before, it is not in the species" he said "it's in the individual" and without giving it a second thought he bent down and kissed her again.

She couldn't pull back this time, lying down on her bed, and she didn't really want to. She wished he could show her what he meant because she wasn't sure of what to think anymore. So she let him kiss her, tentatively at first, more demanding once he asserted she was not pushing him away.

She felt his tongue against her lips and she opened her mouth for him. Pushing all thoughts of species and genetics and how inappropriate she had found this idea before aside. He was just a good friend, her best friend, and he was trying to show her something. She realised that she trusted him with her life and she would follow him wherever he wanted to take her. Even if it was, oddly enough, to some place inside his pants.

When she felt the Doctor shift on the bed and lay half his body on top of her she felt some of her resolve disappear. She hadn't had time to think properly of what was happening. Was this what she wanted? She wasn't entirely sure but, she couldn't deny that it felt rather nice. One of his hands found its way under her T-shirt, cold against her stomach. Rather nice indeed. Still, she shivered.

He stopped kissing her and looked into her eyes trying to make sure they both were on the same page on this. Her breathing was heavier now and her pupils were wide. She was also smiling at him, reassuringly.

"You surely know how to make a point" She then said, taking away some of the awkwardness of the moment. Then her hands were on his face, soft fingers touching his cheeks and going behind his head to pull him back towards her. That was her way of telling him "It's alright. I know what you are doing. Go on, show me". He didn't need the words to understand the message.

And then they were kissing again, no more hesitant touches, their tongues exploring freely, his hand wandering up her skin aiming for all that "roundness" he couldn't pretend anymore he wasn't interested in feeling.

She pulled at his hair when he cupped her breast and squeezed.

He bit on her lip and moaned softly.

She hissed.

He kissed her. Harder. And much deeper.

Tugging at his suit, Donna was trying at the same time to pull him closer and get him out of his clothes. It wasn't a very successful approach to either of her goals. Finding her way under the fabric of his shirt, she finally gave up when she felt his bare back under her palm. Good enough for now - her body thought - and she caressed and stroked relentlessly.

The Doctor was not as patient when it came to clothes. Her tugging made him very aware of all the layers he would have to get through if he wanted to have better access to the amount of skin he was craving for.

His highly efficient Time Lord mind kept perfect track of her attire amidst all the feeling and heat and blood pumping to other organs. He remembered a purple loose T-shirt over a blue dress - was it a dress? she was wearing jeans, why did she have a dress over her trousers? - and all that over yet another blue t-shirt and then, his imagination filled in - her bra. Too many clothes to peel off. He didn't have time for that. He took his hand away from that breast he had become so keen on fondling and simply grabbed the hem of all those garments and pulled them up.

"Why so many clothes?" He asked, rolling them all over her head.

She felt very naked, very suddenly. And it showed.

And he knew exactly why so many clothes.

He could feel her slipping into self awareness when her arms flew instinctively to her chest.

He knew he could tell her she was beautiful. He could tell her how wonderfully perfect he found her under her clothes. He knew he could talk her into all those things he wanted her to feel but he knew that would only make her more aware of her own body. That beautiful body he so painfully longed to lick.

"You are so round all over" He told her instead.

And she laughed. She laughed and relaxed and took her arms away from her chest to wrap them around his neck and pull him into a hug.

He smiled into her neck and inhaled that smell that was all Donna and no one else. Then he nibbled lightly on the crook of her neck and her laughter became little sharp sighs. He moved up to her jaw, nibbling and biting softly. She pulled her head back, allowing him more skin to savour. He licked his way down from her chin to her clavicle.

And she smiled knowingly to the ceiling of the TARDIS when she felt him squeeze her breasts together and run his tongue from one mound to the other before settling to suck on her flesh.

She let him have his way with as much of her roundness the bra allowed him to enjoy before putting her hands on his shoulders and pushing him up, away from her. As he hovered above her, she unbuttoned his jacket and undid all the buttons on his shirt letting it hang lose from his shoulders, her hands eager to run on his chest, to his stomach to his- "Shit, you really don't have a navel!"

He looked down to his belly. Then up to her again, amusement written all over his face.

"Well, isn't that wizard" She murmured amused.

"I think yours is brilliant" He exclaimed touching it and diving to lick it provoking a giggling fit from her.

He bit and nibbled on the skin on her belly, moving away from her reach and she gave up on her efforts to get him undressed. She placed her hand on top of his head and ran her fingers through his hair. He started a kissing path south.

For someone who wasn't human and who had never been remotely near such very human parts, the Doctor knew his way around things, she observed. Her jeans and knickers had been removed in what she felt had been one smooth jerk. Then it was all hands and mouth and tongue climbing up her legs. Her legs had never felt that long before. "Just let it go" he had murmured, his breath warm and ticklish. And then it had all turned white behind her closed eyes.

Donna was trying very hard not to buck her hips to the tingling sensations his tongue was so generously providing. Her hands went to her breasts, and found them trapped under all that inconvenient lace. She arched her back in pleasure and sneaked her hands behind her, unhooking the clasp and freeing herself from her bra. Much better. So much better. Everything was getting so very much… better.

She ran through of all the familiar feelings that had always accompanied her through sex and she found herself barren of most of them. The needing was still present. And that knot in her stomach. Then the will to bite on anything, really. Sex made her feel like eating sometimes. Food had some funny arousing effect on her at times too. That seemingly endless void she so desperately wanted to fill inside her was also there. She was burning up with anticipation and yearning and such raw 'want'. But there was no worry, no real worry. No fear of becoming pregnant, no fear of not being up to anyone's expectations. She didn't have to worry about her body not having the right proportions, or her hips being too wide, her breasts too big, or too small, or too soft. And most of all, she realised she didn't have to worry about what he would expect her to do. Or feel. Or simply react to. How could he?

She came in one sudden and violent spasm that caught her by surprise.

She felt the Doctor move away from her. And she tried to control her breathing, both hands resting comfortably on her chest. She could feel her heart beating fast, a heat wave spreading lazily from between her legs through out her body.

And then he felt him lay on top of her. Skin to skin.

She opened her eyes and they slowly focused on the Doctor. That crazy Doctor and his fuzzy burnt eyebrows. A wave of tenderness swept over her.

He licked his lips and ogled at the way her hands were covering her breasts. She looked down, a devilish smile on her lips, and removed them teasingly to the sides, bringing them up eventually to rest on his shoulders. He looked at her for what felt like an eternity before lowering his head and taking one nipple into his mouth.

She allowed her hands to roam up and down his arms, then his shoulders, his sides and back, as far down as she could reach. For once not thinking of what that must feel like to him but simply relishing on how it made her feel. This time, she became acutely aware of, she wasn't offering anything, she was sharing herself with someone else. She was right there with him. Taking as much as she was giving. And for the first time she was absolutely sure that he was feeling the very same thing.

He let go of her nipple with a soft sucking sound and crawled back up to kiss her mouth. She took the opportunity to sneak her hand between them and touch him where she had been longing to touch since he had first pressed himself completely naked to her. He tensed up and let out a hiss and a grunt before burying his head back on the crook of her neck. She stopped caressing him, in fear that she had done something wrong.

"Very… sensitive… skins… our cocks" He reminded her slightly out of breath, but he moved against her hand in a clear sign that he wanted her to continue with her ministrations.

Their conversation in the afternoon came back to her mind in pieces, and she remembered the sucking cocks and pregnant Time Lords and all that nonsense he had called "a sex talk". Those sucking cocks. And she giggled lightly. He looked down to her, panting and slightly confused.

"What have I done now?" He asked breathlessly, wrapping a hand around her wrist bringing her strokes to a halt.

"Oh, nothing" - she said putting a finger to his lips. He opened his mouth and sucked on it. She moaned, giggles quickly forgotten. He twirled his tongue around it before letting it go.

"Good" He said, his voice low and husky. "Because…" And removing her hand from his cock and positioning himself at a better angle between her parted legs. "…the way I am burning up here…?" He looked into her eyes, seeking for the confirmation he already knew he had, a rather cocky smile spreading when he saw her lick her lips in anticipation "I thought maybe my brows had caught on fire."

And he pushed himself inside her with one swift thrust.

Her chuckle got caught in her throat as she yanked her head back violently. Her back arching and pushing her body against him, her inner muscles both twitching and trying to adjust to his size at the same time.

Her reaction was everything but Time Lord like. Nothing like anything he had experienced before. Her body was much warmer and much more inviting than he had ever imagined. That thing she was doing all around him? What was that!? - he marvelled.

He pulled out and slid all the way back in, just so he could feel it again.

She tightened her grip around him with arms and legs and every muscle she had control over.

"Don't move" she pleaded softly.

He feared he might have hurt her. Feared he had done something wrong. Doubted everything he thought he knew and felt like hitting his head on the wall. He went back to that favourite spot on her neck instead. "Sorry" he whispered to her skin. "Sorry, sorry" he mumbled into her hair.

A rush of emotion filled his mind. Her heat and her smell and herself wrapped around him so tightly. He lost control for a second, letting his mind drift, over flooding hers with a telepathic rush of sensation, images and thoughts.

She saw a flash of red. Then her jaw pointing upwards and her neck. Then a pattern. And she felt his hunger and his hearts beating and his mind going something like "Skin. Skin. Skin". She felt her own taste on her mouth and more red. Red on bare shoulders. And that pattern again. She didn't recognize it but somehow she knew those were freckles. There was heat and need and smell. And curves. Soft rounded curves sliding down the edge of her mind. And that persistent pattern of some very specific freckles somewhere on her body, in some place she couldn't identify but that the Doctor's mind refused to forget. And she experienced the way she was holding on to him, the way she was trying to adjust her body to his, making room for him inside her… So deep inside her. The feeling left her breathless.

He jerked up from her neck. "Shit! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that!"

She was trying to cope with the echoes of his mind inside her head. Telepathic sex.

"Bloody hell Spaceman."

She was panting.

"Is it always like that with you?"

He didn't answer.

"Could you see inside me too?"

He grabbed her hands and pinned them over her head. Then he started thrusting into her, in a slow but steady rhythm.

"I guess you did" And she closed her eyes to the sensations flowing through her body.

And he had. He had seen his own eyes staring back. Huge. And his shoulders and his lips and felt that knot on his stomach, only it wasn't his stomach. And all that want and all that emptiness to fill. And a thousand spots on fire on a skin that felt too tight and a million words racing too fast to read. There was something wild and dark and violent and something hiding not to get hurt. And there was that feeling engulfing all the others: A feeling of someone else inside her body. Someone else she had chosen to allow inside. And he was buried in so deep.

He ached to fill all voids and untie all knots. His thrusts speeded up.

Donna gasped for air, her moans and keening sounds irrepressible. She opened her eyes in fear of slipping away into darkness. His shoulder appeared round and muscular and shinny with perspiration right before her. He had said "let it go", hadn't he? She let go. And bit him. Hard. And it felt Wonderful.

He pulled up from her body, shocked. She felt herself sink in that pool of self awareness and "what did I do? Was that appropriate?" But he was panting and what she had first mistaken for rejection turned out to be sheer surprise. Breathing heavily he leaned down and bit on her neck. Then her shoulder. Harder. And she saw that flash of red, and the pattern dancing. And something dark and wild and hungry she could identify with and, finally, share.

If that was what he had meant all along she was all for it. He had made his point, now it was her turn to illustrate him. If he wanted to see what this Earthgirl was all about, she was going to show him. She hooked her leg between his and rolled them over.

"And now, I lead" - She said in a low sexy voice that sent a shiver up his spine. And he let Donna ride them both wildly into climax.

* * *

He pushed a strand of red hair away from her face and she placed a soft kiss on his chest. The sound of both his hearts like a distant drumming.

"Don't get smug about this, Spaceman."

"I haven't even said a thing!" He protested.

"I can feel you smiling from down here." She was drawing patterns on his chest. "I think it is safe to say your point on pleasurable sex came along quite nicely however…"

He took her hand in his and stopped her designing. "Don't do that. I don't think I will ever be able to see that particular design without feeling an irrepressible need to strip you naked and have my way with you."

She lost track of her thoughts. "Oi!" - she purred. And snuggled closer to his neck. His arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace. Then she whispered into his ear, "I was saying that you had a point on sex but the way I feel right now? The way I know you care for me? This wasn't sex, Doctor. This was lovemaking."

"Donna Noble", he said through his smile "give this Martian a break, will you?"


End file.
